After 17 months of court battles, Ricky Waters (Slick Rick) has won his case against the Immigration and Naturalization who attempted to deport him to England. Last weekend, judge Kimba M. Wood of the U.S. District ruled that the Bureau of Immigration Affairs 1997 decision to deport the Ruler denied him his due process.

"We always knew our arguments had merit and we're pleased that Judge Wood agrees with us," Alex Solomiany, Rick's lawyer said in a statement. "The government was determined to deport Rick, but we were just as determined to keep him here."

In June of 2002, after returning from a Caribbean cruise on which he performed, the INS arrested Slick Rick without warning and charged him with deporting himself and illegally returning to the country. Rick is currently being held without bail in an INS Detention center in Bradenton, Florida since being arrested in June 2002, and should be released shortly.